PHOTO: EPA

China's ambassador to Ireland is to be asked to appear before an all-party parliamentary committee to discuss claims his country's authorities have been harvesting human organs from prisoners. The committee is also asking Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern to raise the issue with his Chinese counterpart at a meeting of the ongoing EU-China dialogue on human rights.

The moves came after the Oireachtas (Gaelic for parliamentary) Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs heard the findings of a report investigating the possible organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners.

The report alleged that "the Chinese Government has over the past half decade put to death a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience" and "simultaneously seized their vital organs for sale at high prices."

The committee had been addressed by former Canadian Secretary of State for the Asia Pacific region David Kilgour who co-wrote the report with David Matas, an international human rights lawyer.

Kilgour told the committee that those responsible for these deeds, including the doctors involved, should face the International Criminal Court as quickly as possible.

"We have a new form of evil in the world," he said. "These practices make crimes against humanity as defined by the Treaty of Rome and the International Criminal Court look more like misdemeanours." A misdemanour is a minor offence.